One of the first issues to emerge in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was a food emergency. Farmers and ranchers who supplied restaurants, hotels, schools and other institutional food service customers suddenly saw those channels shut down. On the other side of things, the number of families seeking assistance from food banks due to job losses increased dramatically.  In all, farmers and ranchers lost 50 percent of their markets, and food banks saw a 73 percent increase in demand year-over-year.

I am grateful that Governor Newsom and CDFA were able to leverage a long-standing partnership with the California Association of Food Banks’ Farm to Family Program to minimize the amount of food that may have been wasted and redirect it to food boxes for families. So far this year, the program has received donations of more than 134 million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Farmers have been feeding the need, and several members of the ag family – from Grimmway Farms, Pacific Coast Producers, Sunkist, Lundberg Farms and so many more have donated to this statewide effort. This is an example of how California farmers work every year to make healthy California Grown food available to families in need with donations to their local food banks and through these two statewide programs.

I am also thankful for strong partnerships with the California Department of Social Services and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services’ Food Supply Task Force. We are working together to assist in the management  the state’s response to the pandemic. 

I am especially grateful for the creativity in rapidly standing up another beneficial state program – Great Plates Delivered – which helps meet the food needs of quarantined seniors by delivering restaurants meals.  It comes with the added benefits of helping to keep restaurant workers employed as the industry has struggled to avoid closures, and helping small farmers who are their suppliers.  More than 19.5 million Great Plates Delivered meals have been served this year.

Additionally, CDFA was able to quickly pivot its Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which provides vouchers for produce from farmers’ markets to needy seniors.  Quarantined seniors weren’t able to visit the markets but CDFA, in collaboration with the California Farm Bureau, the California Alliance with Family Farmers, and the Farm to Family Program of the California Association of Food Banks, facilitated the distribution of 20,242 produce boxes containing 506,050 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to more than 20,000 low-income seniors.  I am thankful to CDFA staff members Crystal Myers, Josh Eddy and Monica Pedigo. They were relentless in finding this alternative way to the delight of seniors who were the recipients! 

I am grateful every day for the bounty of California agriculture and especially for the generosity and commitment of farmers, food banks, our sister agencies and dedicated CDFA staff to ensure that every Californian has access to this bounty.

The many challenges of 2020 have included dramatic changes in the ways that CDFA employees—as well as a large number of workers in the public and private sectors—do their jobs. We have asked our employees to telework, or work from home, and many of them have done so while balancing family life, including children who are distance-learning and perhaps a partner also working from home. It hasn’t been easy.

I am grateful to our employees for how quickly they pivoted to this new way of working, and for how much they have been able to accomplish under these circumstances. The work continues at CDFA, from invasive species prevention to animal health; from our Division of Measurement Standards regulating commerce to our Marketing Division overseeing a range of commodity marketing programs; from the regulation of California’s legal cannabis market to our Division of Inspection Services working on issues like organic licensing and compliance, healthy foods in schools, and efficient use of fertilizer; from our Fairs Division working with local fairs to meet community needs to our environmental farming programs teaming up with farmers and ranchers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

Many of these important functions could not be accomplished remotely and staff adapted with new routines to ensure they could safely do their part in keeping the food supply chain open and meeting the needs of consumers.

Underpinning all of this is the outstanding work from the staff of our Departments of Administrative Services and Information Technology. Their dedication and hard work allowed us to effectively transition to a remote working environment, while implementing safety precautions for those who cannot telework, through new office lay-outs and the availability of PPE and extra sanitation precautions

Thank you, CDFA employees! I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve with you to meet the needs of all Californians. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has released the 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties report, the only source of detailed production and sales data for floriculture, nursery, and specialty crops for the entire United States.

The data show that horticulture operations in California sold a total of $2.63 billion in floriculture, nursery and specialty crops in 2019, down 9% from the sales in 2014. California sold 19% of the total U.S. horticulture sales of $13.8 billion in 2019, more than any other state. In addition to sales, the number of horticulture operations in California decreased 22% during this time to 1,331, and the number of operations in the United States decreased 11% during this time to 20,655.

“The horticulture census is a vital tool that highlights the contribution horticulture growers bring to our local, state, and national economies,” said Pacific Region Director Gary R. Keough. “It shows changes and trends in the industry over the past five years and beyond.”

Horticulture production occurred primarily in 10 states, which accounted for 66% of all U.S. horticulture sales in 2019. California ($2.63 billion), Florida ($1.93 billion) and Oregon ($1.02 billion) led the nation in sales.

The top five commodities in California horticulture sales in 2019, and compared to 2014, were:

• Nursery stock, $831 million, down 13%
• Potted flowering plants, $322 million, up 7%
• Transplants for Commercial Vegetable and Strawberry, $266 million, up 4%
• Cut flowers & cut lei flowers, $249 million, down 26%
• Annual bedding/garden plants, $232 million, up 6%

Other key findings for California from the 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties report include:

• Family- or individually-owned operations made up the largest number of operations, accounting for 48%, but corporately-owned operations accounted for 80% of sales ($2.11 billion).
• Total industry expenses were at $2.21 billion in 2019, with hired labor being the largest cost, accounting for 36% of total expenses.

The Census of Horticultural Specialties is part of the larger Census of Agriculture program. It provides information on the number and types of establishments engaged in horticultural production, value of sales, varieties of products, production expenses and more. All operations that reported producing and selling $10,000 or more of horticultural crops on the 2017 Census of Agriculture were included in this special study.

For more information and to access the full report, visit www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus. 

As challenging a year as 2020 has been, there is much to be grateful for, and I would like to share that with all of you in the “12 Days of Gratitude,” between now and December 24th.

Our first day of gratitude is for our essential farmers, ranchers and farmworkers. Their work has continued through the highly stressful events of this year, making sure that the food supply remains plentiful for all Americans.

COVID-19, heat waves, power shut-downs, wildfires and long-lasting pervasive smoke created unique circumstances for that work.  I’m grateful that our dedicated CDFA staff was able to team-up with agricultural commissioners and community based organizations to deliver much-needed PPE to farmers and farmworkers.  To date, more than 6.3 million N-95 masks have been distributed, along with more than 14 million surgical masks, two-million cloth masks, 1.8 million pairs of gloves, and 313,000 unites of hand sanitizer.

I’m also thankful to the Governor and for the support of our sister agencies to stand-up the Housing for the Harvest Program.  I am grateful to Undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffit for her tireless work with 15 California counties and local social service providers to offer lodging and other essential services to farmworkers who need to isolate due to coronavirus exposure.

This is clearly a year like no other but we are in it together!  Through it all there is a whole new appreciation for the importance of farmers, ranchers and farmworkers in how they touch our daily lives.            

California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) beneficiaries report lower levels of food insecurity, greater ability to consume fruits and vegetables, and overwhelmingly positive appreciation for the program. This is according to an evaluation by the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI).

“I’m eating better because I can afford to get fresh food, fresh vegetables and fruit that I wouldn’t get otherwise,” one participant said about CNIP in NPI’s research brief. “It gives me the chance to taste and to eat foods that I might not otherwise be exposed to, and foods that I wouldn’t feel like I could afford. … I just think it’s fabulous.”

Housed within the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Office of Farm to Fork, CNIP encourages the purchase and consumption of healthy, California-grown fresh fruits and vegetables by shoppers using nutrition benefits, including CalFresh (formerly known as food stamps), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. For every benefit dollar spent, CNIP provides an additional dollar that can be spent on fruits and vegetables at participating Certified Farmers’ Markets and other retail outlets.

CDFA contracted NPI researchers to evaluate CNIP and learn what beneficiaries think of the program. NPI researchers interviewed 386 CalFresh shoppers at 10 farmers’ markets and nine supermarkets. Key finding include that CNIP was “very important” to decisions to shop at farmers’ markets for California-grown products, and shoppers overwhelmingly reported a desire to see CNIP continue and expand.

Click here to read NPI’s research brief. Visit the CNIP website to learn more about this CDFA program battling food insecurity while supporting California farmers in providing their nutritious fruits and vegetables to as many Californians as possible.

Peekaboo Organics’ ice cream featuring hidden vegetables was named the grand prize winner of the Real California Milk Snackcelerator dairy snack innovation competition created by the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) and VentureFuel. The competition will provide Peekaboo with $200,000 in resources and funding to bring a snack-sized version of their innovative products to market and expand the overall market for their products. This is the second event of its kind by the California dairy industry designed to inspire ideas integrating the values of fluid milk and dairy ingredients into snacks to meet growing consumer demand and providing resources to help bring them to market.

As presented by Founder and CEO, Jessica Levison, Peekaboo’s mission is to solve the parental dilemma of getting children to consume more vegetables by putting them into a format they can’t get enough of – ice cream. As the owner of a popular ice cream scoop shop in Miami, she turned her frozen dairy knowhow into flavorful super-premium ice creams hiding a nutritious, vegetable secret. The products are currently available in pints at select retailers but Levison is looking forward to introducing the single serve snack line and expanding distribution with Real California Milk at the core. 

“Like many of our fellow startups, we confronted what seemed like insurmountable challenges this year. This win validates our innovation, our mission and our team’s hard work and resilience,” said Levison. “We learned so much from this Snackcelerator experience and cannot wait to launch Peekaboo minis into the market – made with Real California Milk, of course! Much gratitude to everyone involved.” 

The Real California Milk Snackcelerator competition was designed to inspire innovation and investment in dairy based snack products, packaging and capacity within California by connecting manufacturers, producers, investors, ideas and entrepreneurs for high quality, sustainable products. The competition received 76 entries, which inspired expansion from the original eight finalists to 16 representing both sweet and savory snacking startups in the “Sweet & Savory 16” virtual semi-finals.

All sixteen semi-finalists received $10,000 worth of support each, to develop an edible prototype, while receiving a suite of resources including graphic design, lab or kitchen time and elite mentorship from global marketing, packaging, and distribution experts.

Link to full story on PerishableNews.com

This is Healthy Soils Week 2020 in California.

From Morning Ag Clips

The Soil Health Institute, the non-profit organization charged with safeguarding and enhancing soil health, announced the 2^nd anniversary of Living Soil, which has become the nation’s premier soil health documentary. Living Soil has now passed 1 million views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntJouJhLM48

“Educating consumers about the on-farm and environmental benefits of healthy soils can help create more demand for food, fiber, and fuel grown using soil health systems. The Living Soil documentary was created and produced with that goal in mind, so we can achieve the many environmental benefits of healthy soils at a much grander scale,” said Dr. Wayne Honeycutt, President and CEO of the Soil Health Institute. “We thank everyone who has viewed and especially shared the documentary. My only ask is this: Please keep it up!”

The 60-minute film captures the history – and significance – of the soil health movement, beginning with painful images of the Dust Bowl, and then transitioning to personal experiences of innovative women and men who are managing their land to enhance soil health. Living Soil features rural and urban farmers from Maryland to California, producing everything from corn to floral bouquets, united by their care for the soil.

The documentary was directed by Ms. Chelsea Myers of Tiny Attic Productions and produced by the Soil Health Institute through the generous support of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. It is available free of charge and is currently being translated into multiple languages.

Lesson plans are offered for high school and college faculty use. The primary learning goal is to help students develop an understanding of why soil health is important and identify ways that professionals in production agriculture work to improve the health of our nation’s soils, ultimately benefiting all members of society. Free lesson plans are designed to accompany the Living Soil film and are appropriate to classes in agriculture, natural resources, environment, ecology, biology or human nutrition and food systems.

By Todd Fichette

After several years of playing second or third string to neighboring counties, Fresno County, Calif. held its top spot as the leading county for gross agricultural output in the United States, though the dollar figures between the big three were probably the slimmest in history.

At just $212 million in gross agricultural output between No. 1 Fresno County and No. 3 Tulare County, the fact that all three have exceeded $7 billion in value each of the previous three reporting years – 2017 through 2019 – is a testament to the agricultural output of the region.

At over $7.71 billion in gross receipts for 2019, Fresno’s crop values were 2.3% lower than its record year of $7.9 billion in 2018, which also led all counties in gross agricultural output. Ryan Jacobsen, chief executive officer, Fresno County Farm Bureau, said a general softening of commodity prices, punctuated by a difficult year for wine grapes, may have played a part in the reduced value.

Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner Melissa Cregan said the lower figure was somewhat surprising given increases in almond acreage – Fresno County’s leading crop – and higher acreage reports from other significant crops, including Navel oranges.

“I was surprised the value dipped; it felt like 2019 was going to be better,” Cregan said. “I think our saving grace was the almond crop.”

Fresno County farmers harvested over 264,000 acres of almonds across the county in 2019. Total production that year was up 29 percent to 309,000 tons, or almost one-quarter of all the almonds produced in California.

Fresno has seen two of the commodities produced there exceed a gross value of $1 billion – almonds and grapes, though grapes did not fare as well in 2019.

By the numbers

Almond values, which include the edible nut and the hull sold for livestock feed, exceeded $1.57 billion in gross value on yields that were up 21 percent over the previous year. Growers in 2019 enjoyed an average price of $2.46 per pound on yields that averaged over 2,300 pounds per acre. Yields were up significantly from the year before at about 1,900 pounds per acre, on average.

At No. 2, grape values slipped below $1 billion on softer prices. Raisins remain the most popular type grown at over 81,000 acres. Wine grape varieties were harvested from over 53,000 acres as table varieties were picked from 29,000 acres. The annual wine grape crush in Fresno County was reported at 699,000 tons, down from 711,000 tons the previous year.

Bearing pistachio acreage was up 7 percent on the year to over 117,500, according to the report. The alternate bearing nature of the crop saw a 30 percent swing in yields from the previous year, down to just over 2,700 pounds per acre in prices that averaged just over $2 per pound to the grower.

Cregan expects pistachios to make the leap into elite value status as more planted acres move into the bearing category. The addition of these orchards is also driving a move in Fresno County to build more pistachio processing facilities to handle the larger crop, which for the first time in U.S. history surpassed one billion pounds in total production with the 2020 crop.

Other commodities

Fewer acres of cotton were grown in Fresno County in 2019 as growers across the state move away from the fiber crop to more profitable commodities. While Upland acreage was down nearly 28%, Pima acreage was up 17% to over 77,000 acres. Yields for Pima averaged just over three bales per acre while Upland yields were down significantly to under 2.5 bales. Prices averaged 87 cents for Upland cotton and $1.15 for Pima.

Wheat grown for grain saw a 14.5% increase in harvested acre. Yields there were up about 7%.

After a surprising 2018 that saw garlic yields exceed eight tons per acre on prices that more than doubled from the previous year, garlic farmers in Fresno County harvested from 1,000 fewer acres in 2019. Garlic prices remained well above $2,000 per ton on yields of over 13,700 pounds per acre.

Also of notable report in 2018, onion production was softer in 2019 as fewer acres were harvested and the price for fresh and processed onions declined significantly.

Most notable among melon crops included a significant drop in cantaloupe production and acreage with a marked increase in honeydew production and acreage.

Among citrus, which commands considerable acreage in the county, Navel oranges saw a 19 percent increase in reported acreage. Cregan attributes this to better reporting in the category, and not so much in that growers rushed to plant more Navel oranges in previous years.

Conversely, mandarins saw a slight decline in harvested acreage after several years of excitement in that sector to plant more trees and participate in positive marketing campaigns that generated positive grower returns.

Bee pollination services and honey production each saw a significant rise in production and gross income for beekeepers in 2020. On the honey side, production rose 96% as the price of honey likewise rose to an average of $5.16 per pound. Producers leasing bees for pollination services saw a 22% rise in gross income for pollination of seed, fruit, nut, melon, and vegetable crops.

Unlike some other counties that were able to include hemp values in their annual reports, Cregan said she was not able to collect good numbers because of the relative secrecy of the new industry and various other unknowns that would likely make the data incomplete.

Link to article on Western Farm Press web site

For many years the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has coordinated the annual California State Employee Food Drive during the holiday season. State employees were encouraged to place donated food items in bins located in state agency lobbies, among other activities. While COVID-19 has changed many things, including the use of bins, it has not affected employees’ desire to help, or the need of food banks to provide nourishment to the needy. In fact, COVID-19 has actually made more Californians food insecure this holiday season.

CDFA is now encouraging state employee participation through monetary donations to food banks across the state. Details may be found on the California State Employees Food Drive website, including a Video Message from CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, an interactive map where people may find a food bank in each county and information about how to volunteer.

This Giving Tuesday, CDFA encourages all Californians to consider providing assistance to the California Association of Food Banks, or visit the CalVolunteers web site to learn about local volunteer opportunities.